Sr. Manager, Project Controls, Production Facilities

Rivian•Riverdale, GA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Manager, Project Controls – Cost is the technical and people leader accountable for cost management, forecasting, and billing governance across one or more mega-projects in Rivian's Production Facilities portfolio. This role owns the living control budget, cost coding and WBS, pay-application controls, procurement cost evaluations, cash-flow forecasts, and cost-risk integration—ensuring that Rivian's $1B+ per-program CAPEX is accurately tracked, risk-adjusted, and aligned to lender requirements. The Sr. Manager, Cost Controls operates as the technical execution engine beneath the Director of Project Controls, partnering with the Sr. Manager, Preconstruction & Estimating and the Sr. Manager, Schedule to deliver unified, integrated financial oversight across every phase of a mega-project. This role requires multi-GMP, multi-campus portfolio experience, quantitative risk integration, and lender-grade financial and procurement controls typical of hyperscale industrial and data-center environments.

Requirements

10–15+ years in project controls with a primary focus on cost management, forecasting, and cost controls for industrial, data-center, or manufacturing mega-projects (>$1B).
Demonstrated ownership of GMP contracts, multi-package cost structures, pay-application governance, and cost evaluation of bids and changes at owner-operator or EPC/EPCM organizations.
Proven experience managing cost controls during CMAR or GMP-based contract delivery, including shadow estimating, trade partner bid validation, and change order audit.
Strong background in engineering, construction management, finance, or applied mathematics; advanced degrees or professional certifications (e.g., CCP, CPC, CFA, or similar) preferred.
Experience implementing EVMS, QCRA/QSRA, and portfolio-level cost reporting is strongly preferred.
Proficiency in Rivian's controls technology stack or equivalent platforms (PMIS, ERP, Primavera P6, cost/risk tools, BI platforms).

Nice To Haves

Advanced degrees or professional certifications (e.g., CCP, CPC, CFA, or similar) preferred.
Experience implementing EVMS, QCRA/QSRA, and portfolio-level cost reporting is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Direct cost and forecast responsibility over $1B in annual CAPEX, across one or more mega-programs within Production Facilities.
Full ownership of control budgets, forecasts, and procurement cost baselines across all project phases—FEL, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover. Control estimates and classed estimates are received from and maintained in coordination with the Sr. Manager, Preconstruction & Estimating.
Leadership of a cost controls team (cost engineers, cost analysts, project analysts) with close partnership across estimating, schedule, risk, procurement, and VDC leads to maintain integrated baselines.
Active interface with Finance, Treasury, Internal Audit, and lenders as the primary cost counterpart.
Receive and operationalize the control estimate and GMP baseline; translate those baselines into the cost coding, WBS, and budget structures used to track and govern field execution.
Maintain the living control budget across all GMP amendments, change events, and scope revisions—ensuring real-time alignment between the authorized budget, committed costs, and forecast-to-complete.
Lead budget reviews with PM, Engineering, and Finance; perform scope challenge and scenario analysis (scope adds/deletes, value engineering, alternates) to support change decisions and protect budget integrity.
Translate risk updates into forecast and contingency recommendations tied to quantitative risk outputs (QCRA/QSRA) and procurement risk such as market movement, vendor performance, and commercial terms.
Design and operate the cost coding, WBS, and mapping needed to reconcile project financials back to Rivian P&L, COGS, and asset-based depreciation models.
Own pay-application and invoicing controls: validate Applications for Payment, lien waivers, retainage, GMP allocations, and change-order pricing before PM/Director approval.
Maintain rolling cash-flow forecasts incorporating planned awards, payment terms, and procurement phasing to underpin funding reserve calculations, treasury planning, and lender reporting.
Lead cost aspects of procurement, including: Cost inputs to RFP/RFQ documents and bid forms, Alignment of vendor pricing with control estimates, GMP targets, and contingency strategies, Ongoing tracking of vendor cost performance versus contract baselines and change orders.
Maintain the change management log and aggressively audit change requests to identify and reject scope duplication, inflated subcontractor change orders, and unsubstantiated cost growth.
Coordinate with the Sr. Manager, Preconstruction & Estimating to obtain independent shadow estimates for significant design variations; use those estimates to verify pricing integrity prior to Director approval.
Track trade partner buy-out savings to ensure surplus funds return to the Owner; verify that contractor contingency drawdowns are applied only to legitimate contractor-at-risk items.
Manage the rolling GMP package framework typical of phased mega-projects—enforcing active packages while supporting the Preconstruction team as they estimate upcoming phases.
Partner with risk, schedule, and procurement leaders to integrate QCRA/QSRA outputs and risk into cost forecasts, contingency levels, and management reserve recommendations at each major design and construction inflection point.
Run what-if, sensitivity, and downside scenarios for cost exposure related to scope change, schedule slippage, vendor performance, and supply-chain risk, enabling portfolio-level decision-making and protecting Rivian's downside.
Configure and operate cost controls within Rivian's technology stack (PMIS, ERP, P6, cost/risk tools, BI platforms), ensuring data integrity, standardization, and auditability.
Develop standard dashboards and reporting packs that translate raw cost, estimate, and change into decision-ready insights for PMs, Directors, Finance, Treasury, Internal Audit, and lenders.
Champion data governance for project financials, including disciplined change logs, accruals, committed cost tracking, and historical benchmarking for future programs.
Serve as the primary cost controls counterpart to Internal Audit, Compliance, Treasury, and lenders regarding cost architecture and audit responses.
Ensure all cost processes and artifacts—GMPs, change orders, pay apps, reserve calculations—align with major loan and contract documents, Rivian's Delegation of Authority, and corporate accounting standards.
Lead and develop a cost controls team (cost engineers, cost analysts) capable of operating in fast-paced, ambiguous conditions on multi-billion-dollar factory programs.
Communicate complex cost and risk topics in clear, concise language to executives, lenders, and cross-functional partners; escalate emerging issues with early-warning clarity rather than after-the-fact reporting.
Partner closely with leads in the Program Controls org to maintain a unified, data-continuous view from the GMP baseline through field execution—ensuring the same WBS and cost structure used to build the GMP is the one used to govern change orders and track performance in the field.